Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Popewas an 18th-century English poet. He is best known for his satirical verse, as well as for his translation of Homer. Famous for his use of the heroic couplet, he is the second-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth21 May 1688
sculpture grew marble
Then marble, soften'd into life, grew warm.
art rocks sculpture
Then sculpture and her sister arts revived; stones leaped to form, and rocks began to live.
home charity fool
Fool, 'tis in vain from wit to wit to roam: Know, sense, like charity, begins at home.
use splendor rays
Tis use alone that sanctifies expense And splendor borrow all her rays from sense.
self heaven silence
Silence! coeval with eternity! thou wert ere Nature's self began to be; thine was the sway ere heaven was formed on earth, ere fruitful thought conceived creation's birth.
sky light spirit
Know then, unnumber'd Spirits round thee fly, The light Militia of the lower sky.
expression purple style
Expression is the dress of thought, and still Appears more decent as more suitable; A vile conceit in pompous words express'd, Is like a clown in regal purple dress'd.
play water flow
And soften'd sounds along the waters die: Smooth flow the waves, the zephyrs gently play.
hands grace masters
Music resembles poetry, in each Are nameless graces which no methods teach, And which a master hand alone can reach.
business nice often-is
A person who is too nice an observer of the business of the crowd, like one who is too curious in observing the labor of bees, will often be stung for his curiosity.
leadership ambition sea
The same ambition can destroy or save, and make a patriot as it makes a knave.
atheism looks privacy
Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through Nature up to Nature's God.
beauty eye winning
Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
nice differences literature
The difference is too nice - Where ends the virtue or begins the vice.